Book Eleven

My goal for several years has been to read 50 books in one calendar year – 52 weeks – but I have always fallen off the rails around 25 books. This year, I’m twice as determined. I will be posting short reviews of each book with my thoughts and any recommendations I received for the book as well as a link to purchase the book from Amazon, (though I recommend checking your local library first). If you have questions, leave a comment! If you want to follow my journey, find me on Goodreads.

I’ve attempted one other Stephen King novel and couldn’t bear it after 50 pages, so I never finished. My friend, Madison, suggested 11/22/63 with rave reviews. I picked it up at McKay’s in Nashville. If you’ve never been to McKay’s, let me explain it: a bookworm’s dream. There are shelves upon shelves of used books and vinyl records, and of course dvds, games, and various other things if you’re interested. I can easily browse for hours without noticing time passing. I keep a list of books on my phone to look for in used bookstores, so I go aisle after aisle seeing which treasures I can find. AND you can take books in for store credit or a little cash. It’s fabulous. I love it. The closest one to Rome is Chattanooga, but there are several across Tennessee and North Carolina.

Okay, back to Stephen King.

11/22/63 spins the JFK assassination with time travel and the nuances of the past upon which our present existence builds. One small change to that infrastructure can have drastic repercussions and, as King explores, the past is obdurate: it doesn’t want to change. The plot follows Jake Epping, a divorced teacher, as he befriends a diner owner and returns to 1948. Epping’s character develops as he builds a life for himself in the past: his 2011 indifference fades to a much more dynamic, conscious, and caring idealism. True to character, King references IT several times, building suspense around a little town called Derry, Maine. The novel spends most of its time on Epping’s journey, but his very purpose in the past is derived from stopping the JFK assassination. Though this novel is four times as long as the average novel, it’s a page turner and one you’re not likely to put down before finishing.

*The ending threw me for a loop. I googled the last sentence to make sure I wasn’t missing some important reference. This is not to say I didn’t like the ending – I was just confused.